2015-2016 Schedule Speculation (Challenge game is home vs. Indiana)

[flyingdutchdevil]

Am I the only one that's really skeptical on Maryland? It wouldn't surprise me at all if they end up being a fringe top 25 team.

Maryland has the best starting five in the country, bar none. Trimble is a wonderful talent who can score with the best of them. Layman is a lanky Swiss Army Knife. Diamond Stone is the 6th best prospect in the country according to RSCI. Carter is a proven ACC player who will be more mature with a senior's body. And Sulaimon has undeniable talent. The question is whether Mark Turgeon can put it all together.

[Duke95]

Am I the only one that's really skeptical on Maryland? It wouldn't surprise me at all if they end up being a fringe top 25 team.

No way. They're as talented as anyone in the country.

[Duvall]

A solid 4 seed from last season loses Dez Wells and adds Robert Carter, Diamond Stone, and Rasheed Sulaimon. That sounds like a top ten team to me.

Well, except that Maryland was really a solid 8-seed that enjoyed a lot of lucky bounces in a soft conference. They have added three new starters though, so a jump to the top ten is certainly plausible if you ignore the Turgeon factor.

[Olympic Fan]

Am I the only one that's really skeptical on Maryland? It wouldn't surprise me at all if they end up being a fringe top 25 team.

As the one guy on this board who is skeptical about UNC (I strongly believe they will be a second-10 team again), I sympathize with you.

But I don't agree about Maryland. Their big problem last year was lack of size down low. Adding 250-pound PF Robert Carter (who averaged 12.0 ppg and 6.3 rpb in ACC player two years ago) and 6-10 C Diamond Stone should really help there. And Rasheed fills the gap created by their one loss -- Dez Wells. They have potentially the best PG in college basketball in Melo Trimble.

Obviously, the chemistry has to come together -- and with Rasheed's history, that's a question -- but in terms of talent and depth (ad experience) they look as good as anybody on paper, They have to be in the preseason top five.

[Olympic Fan]

Nice ESPNM summary on Indiana's prospects posted today:

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebaske...diana-hoosiers

Author C.L. Brown suggests that Indiana's starting rotation could be as good as Maryland's.

To me, it looks like Indiana will be a superb perimeter team with major questions in the post -- freshman Thomas Bryant is a top-flight center prospect, but he's rated well below Chase Jeter, so it might be a bit much to ask him to be dominant (especially in his first month of a college player). I don't expect Jeter to carry the load in the post right away.

Bryant is their one real post option -- Troy Williams, a 6-7 wing, was their best rebounder and inside scorer a year ago.

But the guards -- especially Poteet and Blackman, plus Williams on the wing -- are very, VERY good.

[Jarhead]

Am I the only one that's really skeptical on Maryland? It wouldn't surprise me at all if they end up being a fringe top 25 team.

A solid 4 seed from last season loses Dez Wells and adds Robert Carter, Diamond Stone, and Rasheed Sulaimon. That sounds like a top ten team to me. They have experience and talent, and the only team from their conference that was better than they were last year, Wisconsin, lost a large percentage of their production.

Maryland should be very good next season. Let's see how they deal with the expectations.

I don't understand why the Terps are so highly regarded in next season's ranking speculation. It seemed to even escalate with the Suliamon transfer, but even then I don't know why. His talents aren't that great. To me, he never seemed to be in the flow with the rest of the guys on the court. Also, the Terps did so well in the B1G simply because that league was so weak last season, don't you think. I put the Terps in the same class as Carolina. They'll be perhaps a 3 or 4 seed in the NCAA Tourney next spring. Duke? They'll fight their way to a 2 seed, for sure.

[wolfpack]

I forgot about the Robert Carter addition. I'm always hesitant with teams that don't have anyone that have ever won a game of meaning so I'm just hesitant to embrace them as a title contender.

[Olympic Fan]

I forgot about the Robert Carter addition. I'm always hesitant with teams that don't have anyone that have ever won a game of meaning so I'm just hesitant to embrace them as a title contender.

So I assume you join me in my skepticism about UNC ... right?

And Jarhead, what's with the contempt for Sulaimon's abilities?

I know he had issues between the ears, but on the court, he was a guy who started as a freshman and averaged 11.6 points for an Elite Eight team. His game does have limitations, but in 90 college games he averaged 10 points a game and shot 39 percent on almost 300 3-point attempts. He's had a positive career assist to turnover ration of 1.8 to one. And he can play good defense when he wants to (in 2013, K called him the best on-the-ball defender on the roster).

Not saying he's the second coming, but he's a guy that was projected as a borderline first-round NBA draft pick after his freshman year. He ruined that by being a knucklehead -- and I think it's fair to question whether he'll help or hurt Maryland's team chemistry. Has he learned his lesson? I don't know ... we'll see.

But to suggest that he's not that good -- his closest similarity scores on Pomeroy compare him to 2014 James Young (a first-round draft pick), 2015 Frank Mason and 2014 Andrew Harrison. Those are good college players on very good college teams ... so was Sulaimon as a freshman.

[wolfpack]

So I assume you join me in my skepticism about UNC ... right?

I do, they can't defend, they can't shoot, I just think this core of Paige, Johnson and Meeks are what they are a top 15 team not a top 5. Now if Paige plays like he did during his sophomore year and Justin Jackson plays the whole season like he did the last 10 games or so then I'll start to believe this team is a contender.

[Olympic Fan]

Let's see ... Last year, Maryland was 28-7 and was ranked No. 12 in the last AP poll ... UNC was 26-12 and ranked No. 15 in he final AP poll

Maryland lost Dez Wells ... UNC lost JP Tokoto

Maryland added Diamond Stone (a top 10 freshman), Robert Carter (a third-year player who averaged 12 pts and 6 rebs as a freshman in the ACC) and Rasheed Sulaimon a forth-year college veteran who has scored more than 900 points in his career, plauong in the ACC ... UNMC has added two borderline top 100 prospects

Which one is the more viable preseason pick?

PS UNC did last one more game in the 2015 NCAA tournament -- but only because Melo Trimble suffered a concussion midway through the West Virginia game and missed most of the second half).

[Dev11]

It's disingenuous to not discount Marcus Paige's injuries when thinking about how much UNC could be next season. He clearly was not himself this year. I also think in this era where successful teams see huge attrition, you can't knock a team for not having been there before. Duke this past season looked as poised as any team in the country in big games, and prior to the season, the guys on the team had played in very few of those types of games. If experience counted for so much, Wisconsin should have put Duke away both times they played.

[MChambers]

Let's see ... Last year, Maryland was 28-7 and was ranked No. 12 in the last AP poll ... UNC was 26-12 and ranked No. 15 in he final AP poll

Maryland lost Dez Wells ... UNC lost JP Tokoto

Maryland added Diamond Stone (a top 10 freshman), Robert Carter (a third-year player who averaged 12 pts and 6 rebs as a freshman in the ACC) and Rasheed Sulaimon a forth-year college veteran who has scored more than 900 points in his career, plauong in the ACC ... UNMC has added two borderline top 100 prospects

Which one is the more viable preseason pick?

PS UNC did last one more game in the 2015 NCAA tournament -- but only because Melo Trimble suffered a concussion midway through the West Virginia game and missed most of the second half).

Maryland was #32 in the final Pomeroy rankings; UNC was #11. Maryland had a better won-loss record, but played a weak schedule and also benefited from winning a lot of close games (#2 in Pomeroy's "Luck" category).

I agree that Maryland added a lot in Stone, Carter, and Sulaimon, so that offsets quite a bit of the difference, although I think they'll miss Wells quite a bit. Guess I'd reluctantly rank UNC higher, but I'm not all that impressed by either team as a preseason pick.

[Duvall]

The first ACC-A10 doubleheader in Barclays looks to be...Virginia Tech-George Washington and Boston College-Fordham on December 22.

Hm. A10 may have cause to be upset about that one.

[SCMatt33]

The first ACC-A10 doubleheader in Barclays looks to be...Virginia Tech-George Washington and Boston College-Fordham on December 22.

Hm. A10 may have cause to be upset about that one.

I'm sure the A10 knew this was coming. The contract had to stipulate the quality of teams from each league. If nothing was written in the contract (i.e. must be a team from top half previous year or one out of Duke, UNC, Cuse, etc.) they knew that they would only get bottom feeders. Maybe the A10 didn't have better bargaining power. Given that the Barclays Center and the ACC both wanted this to happen, the A10 had to allow it or risk being banished back to Boardwalk Hall when their current contract expires. Most people assumed that they were at least getting a bone thrown to them in the form of a top level team in the deal, but apparently not. Also, to be fair, it's not the A10 is throwing Dayton and VCU out there. It's Fordham and GW, though GW was decent last year.

[UtahStateOutsider]

Guess the rumors I had heard were true.

[Tripping William]

Guess the rumors I had heard were true.

Rod Tueller's bringing a team to Cameron? Wait, I think I'm showing my age ....

[gam7]

Guess the rumors I had heard were true.

Props to you and your source. Thanksgiving Sunday. Kind of a strange opponent. Link:

http://www.sltrib.com/sports/2554602...aggies-to-play

[duke2x]

11/29 is the date. It's a Sunday on ESPN-U. Link

[UtahStateOutsider]

I'm glad to know I can trust the source. It is a very odd date but I'm very excited for Utah State to get to play Duke & Coach K. I'm hopeful USU will finish no worse than third in the Mountain West so it's not a bad game for Duke either, IMO.

[neemizzle]

It's disingenuous to not discount Marcus Paige's injuries when thinking about how much UNC could be next season. He clearly was not himself this year. I also think in this era where successful teams see huge attrition, you can't knock a team for not having been there before. Duke this past season looked as poised as any team in the country in big games, and prior to the season, the guys on the team had played in very few of those types of games. If experience counted for so much, Wisconsin should have put Duke away both times they played.

That's the problem I have with Paige, as I have from day one when he stepped on the court. We've heard this talk of "him not being himself" for 3 years now. He's either been okay, a second half player, and this year his plantar in his foot, regardless of how he's been, he arguably hasn't been "himself" his entire UNC career, right?

At least that's what I've gathered. Don't get me wrong, the kid is a solid talent and a smart guy, but it's his senior year this year right? It's time to really step up and do something. Tokoto left because he wasn't developing under Roy, and McAdoo left a year after he would have been a legit first rounder and then the year he leaves, he rides the pine in the league (not to mention played the D-League for the majority of it). These UNC guys aren't really developing the way their fans want them to (and it's quite hilarious.)

Has anyone else heard about the possible Nova game in December? How good will they be this year?